Tonight

Thursday

Thursday Night

Periods of rain, some of it can be heavy after midnight and there can be a rumble or two of thunder, breezy, low 40's

Friday

Mostly cloudy, becoming windy, rain or snow showers early, snow showers late, temperatures dropping during the day from the low 40's in the morning

Saturday

Windy, cold, partial sun, a few snow showers possible, upper 30’s

Sunday

Breezy, cold, partial sun, upper 30’s

Monday

Partly sunny, cold, upper 30’s

Discussion

The next big player on the field in terms of storms is now affecting the southern Rockies region and is heading towards the central Plains. This storm will reach the Upper Midwest on Thursday and widespread heavy snowfall will be the result all the way from Denver, CO to Green Bay, WI. In fact, parts of the Upper Midwest will get more than a foot of snow and winds will whip to 50 mph on the back side of the low later tomorrow with extensive blowing and drifting. This same storm will push a strong cold front in our direction on Thursday night and the result here will be periods of rain, some of it heavy after midnight, gusty winds, and maybe even a rumble or two of thunder. Rainfall totals from the frontal passage should end up in the 1-2" range by early Friday and peak wind gusts could reach 50 mph. Temperatures will drop early Friday behind the front and there is a small chance that the rain will change briefly to snow before ending. By later Friday and Friday night, winds will continue to gust at quite strong levels and those strong winds will last right through Saturday. Also, snow showers are possible around here later Friday, Friday night and Saturday as an upper level storm remains rather stationary in the northeastern part of the country. There will be a significant “lake-effect” snow event on Friday and Saturday downwind of the eastern Great Lakes. Numerous snow showers are likely, for example, in higher elevation places like State College, PA on Friday and Saturday with some accumulations likely.

Looking ahead to next week, the cold air tends to stick around and overall temperatures will likely average below normal for the last week of the month. Another strong storm is likely to cross the country in the Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday time frame and it will be loaded with moisture and there will be lots of cold air around. Some computer forecast models have the storm heading towards the Great Lakes by the middle of next week which would produce rain around here, but there are reasons to believe that it could take more of a “southern route” to the Mid-Atlantic coastline due to expected upper atmospheric blocking pattern setting up in southeastern Canada. A “southern route” for this next storm would certainly increase the odds for snow around here by about the middle of next week. Very cold air is likely to follow this storm at the end of next week.